Do tragedies like 9/11 have an expiration date?

James Sues, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the difficulties facing Muslim-American 15 years after 9/11.
Video by Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com

This file photo taken on September 12, 2001, shows smoke and ash from the destroyed World Trade Center rise over the southern end of New York City's Manhattan behind the Statue of Liberty as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey.(Photo: Tannen Maury, AFP/Getty Images)

Fifteen years ago, the world watched as the deadliest terror attack in the history of the United States played out before their eyes.

The images are unforgettable, and the stories of those who died and those who rushed to the scene dominated media coverage for months after the attacks.

But the way people mark the anniversary has in many ways changed from a collective experience that the masses were a part of, to a more personal experience, according to Brian A. Monahan, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at Marywood University in Scranton, Penn.

He notes that for the younger generation, 9/11 is akin to how many feel towards Pearl Harbor today, an understanding and acknowledgment, but not a personal connection, unless they were directly affected.

“A lot of people still care deeply about this, but it is more personal…and less public and shared,” he said.

President George W. Bush has his early morning school reading event interrupted by his chief of staff Andrew Card, shortly after the news of a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center buildings in Sarasota, Fla. Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images

Marcy Borders is covered in dust as she takes refuge in an office building after one of the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York. The former bank clerk, known as "The Dust Lady" died in 2015 of cancer. Stan Honda, AFP/Getty Images

Brooklyn firefighters George Johnson, left, of ladder 157, Dan McWilliams, center, of ladder 157, and Billy Eisengrein, right, of Rescue 2, raise a flag at the World Trade Center site in New York. Thomas E. Franklin, The Bergen Record

For the most part, the history of the United States is not built on sentiment of tragedy, according to Lachmann.

“That’s not the image Americans have of their country… it’s a much more positive image of the country being exceptional or the best,” he said. “That self-image doesn’t encourage or make it easy to year-after-year say we are victims, or that we are defined by this tragedy.” But in many ways, it's hard to deny that many have been affected by 9/11, according to Monahan, who wrote the book The Shock of the News: Media Coverage and the Making of 9/11.

He said one of the major takeaways from his research is that 9/11 may have been long ago, but it still deeply matters, because the aftermath of the attacks touched almost every aspect of people’s lives.

“You can trace it to policy, policing and surveillance in New York and elsewhere, the Patriot Act,” he said. “You even see it Trump’s immigration plans and his campaign, where we see themes about crime and terrorism, and the dangerous outsiders. Those themes draw a lot of force from the melodramatic narrative of 9/11.”

According to Google trends, the top states searching 9/11 in the past week, are New York, West Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

“It’s very different for people who were directly involved, they certainly don’t forget it,” he said. “But for others, there was this initial moment where people wanted to identify with this and feel that it affected them, but it really hadn’t so that made it harder to sustain.”

He notes that 9/11 will never be just another day, but will likely become as other historical events have, a day that is remembered more fully on anniversary’s that are typically played up, like the 20th, 25th and 50th.

“It won’t have an expiration date like a carton of milk you throw out, but the relevance of the event will fade in time and some of the concerns,” he said.